Happily Ever After
by Obsidian Obscurity
Summary: Once upon a time, in a land far away, there was a prince who was brave, honorable and- okay, so that’s a lie. He’s lazy, obnoxious and to be frank, wants absolutely nothing to do with heroism of any description. Not that he has a say in the matter.….
1. Chapter One The Beginning

**Warnings/Notes: **Hey There! Here's another particularly absurd story by me! Let it be known to all that this story contains **shounen ai,** so if you have any problems with that, please feel free to press the back button!

Oh, and it's an AU.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Beyblade, or any of its characters. Nor do I own any of the fairytales which this story may refer to.

* * *

_**Happily Ever After**_

* * *

_Chapter One;_ **The Beginning**

* * *

"The sun is shining, the birds are singing, oh what a wonderful day it is to be alive."

"Is that sarcasm I detect, Mr. Kinomiya?"

"No. And that's _Prince_ Kinomiya to _you_ Hilary."

"A fact that I try to forget. And that's _Princess_ Hilary to _you_."

Prince Tyson Kinomiya scowled up at the sky, "Not that I like being a prince anyways."

Sitting next to him, his sister smirked at him, "And why is that?"

"Because it's a pain in the butt!"

Hilary sighed as she patiently waited for the outburst that was sure to come.

And it did.

"_Why_ do **I** have to be a prince. It's so **stupid**! All boring manners and stuff! And don't even get me started on this stupid quest thing."

Hilary was sure that despite the fact that _she_ most definitely wasn't going to get him started on the stupid quest thing, he would start anyway.

And he did.

"It's so pointless!"

"It's tradition."

"Hiro didn't have to do it!"

"He did, you just didn't pay any attention to it. If memory serves me correct, I believe you were in the kitchen when he left."

"Why would someone make me do such a stupid thing?"

"It's to prove that you're worthy to be a prince."

Tyson turned his attention from the sky and fixed her with a very dark glare, "How on **earth** does rushing off and saving a damsel in distress prove that I'm a prince? As a prince my main responsibility is to sit on my ass and watch my father sit on his ass- in a way more comfy chair than mine- and make decrees. And then, when he buggers off to go into retirement, I get to sit on my ass and watch my older brother make decrees in a way more comfy chair. And on the off chance that Hiro doesn't want to on his ass all day in the way more comfy chair and make decrees, I have to sit on my ass in the way more comfy chair and make the bloody decrees!"

Hilary blinked, "Err……..could you repeat that, maybe a little more slowly?"

But Tyson was on a role, and when he was on a role, he didn't stop for anyone, "Where in that, is there a need to be capable of saving damsels in distress?"

"Well………" said Hilary slowly, "I'm pretty sure that if the said damsel in distress joined you on the way more comfy chair, things would certainly be more enjoyable."

Tyson sweatdropped, "I guess……….."

"Though I suppose a lot less decrees would be made……………"

Tyson visibly brightened, "Yeah….."

Hilary's eyes went sparkly, "And it's so romantic!" She ignored the disgusted look her brother gave her and continued, "As a princess I know I would just **_love_** to be rescued by a bold handsome prince!" She gave Tyson a look, "Though I don't know how the girl you'll be saving will feel about it."

Tyson glared at her, "Why you-"

He was cut off by someone calling his name, "Tyson! There you are!"

Tyson sweatdropped as his brother came into view on the other side of the garden, "Uh oh."

Hilary poked him, "What?"

Tyson looked at the ground, "I was kinda meant to meet him this morning to get ready to leave…………"

"And you hid from him instead," said Hilary shrewdly, deadpanning.

Tyson smiled innocently, "Well I guess you could say-"

"Tyson!"

"Ah!" Tyson looked up to see Hiro looming over him, "Big brother! Fancy seeing you here!" he put a hand behind his head and laughed nervously.

Hiro gave him a pained look, "Tyson………."

Tyson stood smiled up at him, eyes shining, "Yes, my kind, compassionate, handsome, loving and forgiving older brother?"

Hiro rolled his eyes, and dropped some keys and a piece of paper on Tyson's lap. "You can take my car, and here's the address of the princess."

Hilary blinked, looking confused, "What?"

"You just have to travel far and wide and you'll be there in no time."

Tyson made a face and stood up pouting, "But Hiro!"

"Don't 'but Hiro' me! The sooner you go the sooner you can come back."

Hilary looked between the two, "He's taking a car? And you've told him exactly where to find a princess to save? I thought you'd make him take a horse! Or at least walk! And 'far and wide' is the express way! You're totally sucking the romance out of everything?"

Her brothers stared at her.

"So?" asked Tyson.

"Romance?" asked Hiro.

They both looked terribly confused.

Hilary growled in annoyance, "Boys! You're all the same!" She stood up and pushed past them, "I'm going to my room. I hope you enjoy your little adventure Tyson, because it's a waste of time! What's the point on going on a quest if it's already all planned out like this! Back in the good old days a princess would expect, and **get**, a _real_ night in shining armor! Not some jerk in a bad outfit! Wait till mother hears about this……….."

Her voice trailed off into the distance as she disappeared out of the garden.

"What's her problem?" asked Hiro still looking confused.

Tyson shrugged, "Girls, princesses……….. all the same. I bet she's gone off to write some of her poetry."

The two brothers cringed.

"At least I won't be here to listen to it."

Hiro glared at his younger brother, "Thanks."

* * *

Tyson adjusted his sunglasses, and turned up the radio as he drove down the far and wide. 'Traveling by horse, or walking. What was Hilary thinking?' He sniggered at the thought.

The road signs and the countryside flashed by as he sped along, taking absolutely no notice of the speed limit.

He'd been driving for a couple of hours and was pretty sure that the exit he wanted would come up fairly soon.

Sure enough, a few minutes later a sign labeled with the name of the exit he wanted appeared, and he left the freeway.

He glanced at the paper his brother had given him, and then proceeded to follow it's directions to the address he was looking for.

He eventually pulled up outside a large castle situated on top of a hill.

'Now all I have to do is save this chick and I can be on my way,' he thought to himself as he left his car and went to the door. 'In and out, no nonsense. That's the way to do this.'

Pulling out the paper in his hand, Tyson stared at it for a moment and then knocked on the door.

After a while it opened, revealing a pale boy with dual colored hair and red eyes. The said eyes flickered over him and a look of distaste flitted across the boys face as he leaned casually against the doorframe, "Let me guess," said the boy before Tyson could speak, "You're a prince/warrior who's come to save the princess."

Tyson sweatdropped, but smiled, "Yeah, is this the right address?" He glanced down at his piece of paper, "The abhorrently large castle, on top of the hill, beside the lake, behind the forest?"

"Well………." said the boy slowly, "This is an abhorrently large castle. On top of a hill. Beside a lake. Behind a forest."

"Oh good! I'm Tyson by the way," he paused and looked the guy up and down, "I don't have to save her from you do I?"

The boy gave him a weary look, "No."

"And you are?"

"Kai."

"Are you her brother?"

"No."

"Her guardian?"

"No."

"Her uncle?"

"No."

"Her _boyfriend_?"

"No."

Tyson looked puzzled, as he was running out of things this guy could be.

"Her father?"

Kai scowled, "I'm only a little older than you!"

"Then who are you!"

Kai wore an expression that said he really didn't want to say.

"Fine!" snapped Tyson, well past being fed up, "Can you go and get her?" he paused and then added as an afterthought, "Please?"

"There's no need."

"What? Look, just stop playing around so I can get out of here already. Go and get her."

Kai sighed, "There's no need to get _her_, because _she's_ already here."

Tyson looked around, "Huh? Where?"

"I'm the princess."

Tyson blinked, and stared open mouthed, "What! _You're_ the **princess**."

The glaring Kai nodded curtly, "Apparently my parents had a sense of humor. As did my fairy godmother."

'And so does Hiro apparently' thought Tyson as he tried valiantly not to snigger, and failed miserably. "B-but you're a boy!" he paused and gave Kai a appraising look, "Aren't you?" He noted that Kai, though rather muscular, was particularly petite and curvy for a boy. Pretty too, his mind added, making him blush.

Kai's glare darkened, "Yes," he said primly, is tone indicating to Tyson that not only was he a boy, but he was a boy with fists and wasn't afraid to use them.

"Are yo-"

Kai cut him off, already knowing what he was going to ask, "No, I'm not cursed."

Tyson snorted, "You're a male princess. I'd call that cursed."

The Kai sighed and from his expression, it was clear that he'd heard all of this before, "Well, if that's all you want, I guess you'll be going now-" he went to shut the door in Tyson's face.

"No!" Tyson cut him off, sticking his foot in the door blocking it, "I need to save you!"

"Save me from what? The only problem I have, apart from an annoying young man on my doorstep, is my title. And nothing can save me from that."

Tyson glared at him, "I don't care, I've traveled far and wide to get here, and I'm not going back without saving a damsel- who is preferably a princess- in distress!"

Kai stared at him pointedly, "Far and wide? The express way? It doesn't go very far. It couldn't have taken you more than a few hours to get here." He stared past Tyson to look at the car parked in the background, "And it appears as though the only traveling _you've_ done _yourself_ is walk up to the door."

Tyson sweatdropped, "Yeah well……….Can you help me? Please?" he put on his puppy dog eyes.

Kai sighed and turned into the house, "Fine. But only because the world shouldn't be subjected to such an ugly facial expression."

Tyson grinned triumphantly and followed Kai inside.

His grin faded as Kai added, "And take off your sunglasses, they make you look egotistical."

Tyson quickly took them off (though he wasn't sure why, normally if someone said something like that he would leave them on out of spite) and glanced around, "Nice place you got here, Princess."

"Kai's fine," growled Kai as he led him through the atrium.

Tyson smiled at him, finding his sensitivity on the subject of his title cute, but then stopped himself when he reminded himself that he wanted to get this over with as soon as possible, "Okay Kai."

They walked down a hallway and into what appeared to be a sitting room.

"Right," said Kai, sounding businesslike, "I'd offer you a seat, but I'm sure you'd rather get this all over so you can go home."

Tyson nodded, "Yeah."

"I suppose this is your first time," said Kai, sounding bored.

Tyson hesitated, as if he could be thought less of through this admission, "………yeah."

Kai nodded, "Well basically, I need to be in danger, and then you can come in brandishing your sword- you have a sword don't you?"

"Err, no…….."

"Don't worry, you can borrow one- where was I? Oh yeah….. brandishing your sword, striking a heroic pose, you say something corny, save me, then in my state of complete and utter delirious awe of your amazing heroism, I kiss you to show my gratitude, and then we live happily ever after."

Tyson couldn't help it. He blushed, "You k-kis-"

Kai cut him off, "On the cheek," he said acidly, giving him a warning glare.

Tyson coughed, "Err………..of course."

Kai growled, "Watch it. The last person who got certain ideas and let their hands wander, I had turned into a neko jin."

Tyson smiled meekly, "No funny stuff. Got it. You're frigid. End of story."

Kai glared at him darkly, "_Excuse me_?"

Tyson smiled innocently, "Nothing! So what can I save you from?"

Kai paused and thought for a while. "I've got it…………" he said finally, walking over to a wall, and picked up a sword that was being displayed there. He gestured, and Tyson went over to him and took it. "Be careful with it," he warned, "It's pretty valuable, and a family heirloom, I think." He handed Tyson a sheath to go with it.

Tyson nodded clipping the sheath to his belt and held the sword firmly.

Kai looked at him slightly surprised, "You hold it correctly."

Tyson smirked at him, "My grandpa's a kendo expert. I've trained since I was a child."

Kai gave him a small, (and what Tyson realized had to be) rare, smile, "I thought a lot of the older traditions of this world had died out," he said as he moved to another door and waited for Tyson to follow him.

Tyson shrugged, "Well I'm here because of tradition, aren't I? I guess I could say my family have gotten a little lazy as we've entered new times (at this he though of how Hilary had been horrified by his driving a car to get here) but we try to keep the traditions alive."

Kai nodded solemnly, "A lot of people have given them up completely. I'm sure you know what happened to the Prince Charming family and their kingdom."

Tyson nodded, "Yeah, they went bankrupt and lost everything. Even their title. Because of gambling problems I heard. I can tell you for sure, he's not so charming now."

"And then there's the Cinderella's, and that shoplifting incident. Instead of losing their shoes, they steal them."

"You think that's bad. You don't even want to know what happened to sleeping beauty."

They stopped outside a door, and Kai put his hand on the handle, "Okay. I'll go in there, shut the door, and call for help. That's when you barge in there and do your thing. Oh, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't break the door down, I know it's more dramatic, but I'd really rather not to have to fix it _again_."

"Just how many people have rescued you?" asked Tyson.

Kai smiled and patted him on the cheek, "More than you need to know about," and with that he disappeared into the room, shutting the door behind him.

Tyson scowled at the door, somehow disturbed by the fact that he wasn't Kai's first hero.

There was a couple of minutes silence before finally there was a spectacularly unenthusiastic, "Oh help. Save me someone," from behind the door.

Tyson took a deep breath, and, with sword raised in a suitably heroic manner, barged through the door………..and sweatdropped, "Err………."

Kai stopped pretending to be terrified and glared at him, "It was the best I could do on such short notice."

Tyson deadpanned, "It's a spider."

"It's not just a spider," said Kai haughtily, "It's a spider who is threatening a princess and it must be vanquished."

Tyson eyed the spider, sword held limply at his side, "Got any cans of bug spray lying around?"

Kai sighed, "Just step on it, okay."

Tyson bent down and inspected it, "Err………Kai? I think it's already dead."

Kai sweatdropped, "Oh look! It died of fright when it saw you! You're my hero!"

Tyson blinked, "Kai? I really think it was already de-"

"Oh look. It died of fright when it saw you. You're my hero," repeated Kai in a meaningful tone of voice, gritting his teeth.

"But-" Tyson then seemed to catch on, "Oh………..Any time princess. It was my pleasure."

Kai smiled at him. It was false and extremely strained, "I'm so grateful," he stepped forwards over the spider.

Tyson blushed and stepped backwards as he realized Kai's intentions, "Really, it's not necessary-"

"Actually, I'm afraid it is," said Kai sadly as he leaned forward, "It's in **'The Official Rulebook of Fairytales'.**"

"I hated that book, terrible read." Tyson wasn't too sure why he was getting so flustered, he'd been kissed on the cheek by princess loads of times before, it was part of the job of a prince. 'But Kai's a boy,' his mind supplied, 'It's different. _And_ you **like** him………..' Tyson roughly squashed the thought and re-focused on his current situation.

Kai's lips gently grazed over his cheek, before he pulled back, looking decidedly flushed.

Tyson noticed and stared accusingly at him, "I thought you said you'd been saved heaps of times! Why are you embarrassed?"

Kai scowled and headed to the door, "I am not embarrassed!" he replied gruffly, though Tyson could plainly see that he had turned an interestingly pretty shade of pink.

"Now hurry up and I'll get you a receipt."

Tyson blinked and followed him, "Receipt?"

Kai sighed as they quickly headed back to the sitting room, "It's just proof that you rescued me. You know, so that you can say to people you did, and have documentation to back it up."

"Oh…………"

"I just have to get the person who looks after the receipt book," Kai turned away from him, and called, "Trainee apprentice mage, sans master, Mizuhara!"

Tyson blinked, "Trainee apprentice?"

Kai turned back to him and nodded, "You remember the guy with the busy hands I told you about?"

"The one who was turned into a neko-jin?"

"He was meant to be a rabbit."

"Oh………..And he doesn't have a master?"

Kai coughed delicately, "Would _you_ want to be the one known as the person who taught him _everything he knows_?"

Tyson sweatdropped, "No……..I guess not."

A few minutes later blonde boy with bright cerulean eyes bounded into the room looking excited, "Do you need me to do something?" He looked at Tyson and grinned evilly, "I've been practicing on my rabbit spell!"

He pulled a frog out of his pocket.

It had several pairs of rabbit ears.

"I'm getting there!"

Kai sweatdropped, "Err……..no, Max. I just need the receipt book."

Max looked crestfallen, "Oh………" But his exuberant demeanor returned quickly, "Okay then!"

He searched in his pockets, and Tyson rose an eyebrow at the variety of strange noises that emanated from them as he did so.

Kai appeared to notice, "You wouldn't believe the things he keeps on his person."

Tyson looked at Max nervously as he handed the little book to Kai.

Kai wrote something in it, tore out a page, and handed it to Tyson, "Here you are. And I have to say, that was probably one the best rescues I've ever had. You didn't even say the line."

Tyson blinked, "The line?"

Max grinned and cleared his throat theatrically, "Oh I shall protect your honor my darling maiden! I will save you!" he grabbed Kai's hand and kissed it in mock adoration.

Kai's left eye twitched.

Max stood up smiling cheekily, "And that, is the line."

Tyson wore the expression of someone who wanted to laugh madly and sneer at the same time. And he had the distinct feeling that he didn't want to know what happened to those who said it for real to the currently glowering Kai.

"Well, I'll, err……..just be going now."

Max pouted, looking between Kai and Tyson, "Oh! So soon?"

Tyson nodded, "Yeah, you know how it is, I've got to get home."

Kai nodded and started heading to the front door, expecting Tyson to follow him.

Tyson did, and Max walked beside him.

"So what's your name?"

"Tyson."

Max beamed at him, "Tyson, I like that name! And Kai let you rescue him?"

"Well I have a receipt."

Max laughed brightly, "Oh, yeah! Sorry!"

Tyson smiled at him, not being able to help liking the young apprentice.

Max grinned at him, "And he didn't even want me to turn you into anything, or try to kill you. Not many people can say that!" he paused, "Actually, I think you're the only one who can say that! I think he _likes_ you."

Tyson looked at him disbelievingly, "And what makes you think **that**?"

"Well………..as I said, he didn't have me do something to you, and he didn't hurt you. And he didn't kick you out, he helped you! The last person who managed to rescue him had to tie him up to do it!"

"I see………….."

"And I see he let you keep his sword!"

Tyson stared down at the sword he had sheathed awhile ago, but had forgotten to return it. "He probably just forgot to ask for it back."

Max shook his head, "Kai doesn't forget. He's letting you keep it."

Tyson blinked confused.

Max smiled at him, "It would be nice to see Kai happy for once, he's really a gentle soul underneath………"

The two of them looked at Kai stalking down the hallway up ahead.

"…………Rather far down, underneath I have to admit."

Tyson made a face, "Uhuh."

Max grinned, "You know, I think you may even be the one, if only you stayed around for a little while………."

Tyson blinked. "The one?"

Max grinned, "You know, the one!"

Tyson suddenly remembered something Hilary had told him about excitedly, "You don't mean…………"

Max nodded, "His one true love!"

Tyson laughed, "Oh man, you believe in that!"

Max pouted, "You don't?"

Tyson shook his head smiling, "Sorry to disappoint you Maxie, but no."

They reached Kai and the front door before Max could say anything else.

"It was very nice meeting you," said Kai politely.

"Err………You too…………"

Tyson and Kai looked at each other for a while, before Tyson finally turned and walked out the door.

He paused, "Bye………."

Kai gave him a small smile, "Bye."

"Bye," said Max, still looking disappointed by what Tyson had said.

Tyson left, and Kai disappeared into the depths of the castle.

Max sighed sadly as the door swung shut and he leaned against it, "And they lived happily ever after…………….."

* * *

TBC……………………..

So what do you think? Do you like it? Love it? Hate it?


	2. Chapter Two The Middle Part One

**Warnings/Notes: **

Thankyou to everyone who has reviewed so far! I really appreciate it a lot!

Let it be known to all that this story contains **shounen ai,** so if you have any problems with that, please feel free to press the back button!

Oh, and it's an AU.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Beyblade, or any of its characters. Nor do I own any of the fairytales which this story may refer to.

* * *

_**Happily Ever After**_

* * *

_Chapter Two;_ **The Middle- Part One**

* * *

Tyson stomped over to the car feeling put out. 

"One true love," he muttered, "As if something like that could ever be true."

"Well considering you live in a world where fairytales run rampant, I'd say it has a particularly good chance!"

Tyson jumped, "Ahh!" He spun around and came face to face with a little blue dragon that was somehow floating in mid air, "Who, or what are you!"

The dragon grinned, showing off its impressive set of teeth, and Tyson fought the urge to run, "I'm your fairy godmother!" it said happily.

Tyson face faulted, "But you're a guy!"

"So was the princess!"

"Yeah, but he……….." Tyson trailed off, not quite sure what to say.

The dragon patted him on the shoulder, "There, there, I know you've had a rough day, finding out your one true love is a boy, even if he is a looker," the dragon smiled lecherously at him (at least Tyson thought he was smiling lecherously, it was hard to tell when dealing with a collection of teeth that made all smiles look like they were hungry ones).

"So you're my fairy godmother," said Tyson slowly, and then quickly added, "And he's **not** my one true love."

The dragon nodded, "I'm Dragoon!"

"Do I get wishes?" asked Tyson looking hopeful.

Dragoon shook his head, "Sorry, I don't do wishes, but I can give you some advice!"

Tyson looked put out, "Fine, but I have to say I'd prefer some wishes."

Dragoon ignored him, "You must save the princess!"

Tyson rolled his eyes, "Sorry, you're a little late. I've already done that. He gave me a receipt and everything."

Dragoon shook his head, "No you haven't! And you have to go back to the castle right away!"

Tyson shook his head stubbornly and glared at his fairy godmother, "No. I've done my job and I'm going home."

"But the princess does have to be saved!"

"From what? He said he was fine."

Dragoon's expression darkened, and he said conspiriously, "He needs to be saved from the big bad wolf!"

Tyson deadpanned, "I thought that was little red riding hood."

Dragoon shrugged, "Well, the big bad wolf got sick of blubbering little girls with bad fashion sense and has moved on to bigger and better things."

"Well where is he?'

At that moment a boy with bright red hair dressed in white, orange and dark blue sauntered past.

Dragoon nodded at him, "And there's your wolf."

Tyson sweatdropped, "Err………That's not a wolf, he's just some guy."

Dragoon sighed, "So picky. Here," He waved his tail at the boy, and he suddenly grew a bushy wolf tail and wolf ears, "Happy?"

"I suppose……………"

"Now off you go to save your princess."

Tyson moved forward, and then paused, "Hang on," he pulled out his receipt, "I've already saved him, so I don't need to do it again! See! He signed it and everything. Someone else can do it!"

"You saved him from a dead spider. _Real _heroic."

"Yeah, but-"

Dragoon sighed, "Just _imagine_ what your family will think of you if they found out……….."

"But he-"

"And do you really wolf boy over there to have the gorgeous Kai in his clutches?"

"No, but-"

"Then off you go!"

Tyson suddenly found himself standing behind the 'wolf' outside Kai's front door, just as it was opened by Kai.

Kai blinked, totally ignoring the red head, and stared at Tyson, "You came back?"

From the death glare he was receiving from the wolf, Tyson was sure that his presence, and Kai's fixed attention on him, was not at all appreciated.

"Yeah, I-" he started, but was cut off by the red head grabbing Kai and pulling him to him.

"I'm Tala," said the wolf in a tone of voice that perfectly matched his species.

Kai blinked, "And I'm going to pull your tail off if you don't let go."

"That's an interesting name," said Tala, "But I'd much rather call you '_mine'_. "

Both Tyson and Kai sweatdropped.

"Now there's a lame pick up line if ever I heard one," muttered Tyson, earning a sharp glare from Tala.

Kai smiled wryly, and unsuccessfully attempted to remove Tala's arms from his person. "Can I help you?" he asked. His voice was quiet, but dangerous.

"Why yes you can," said Tala smoothly, "You can marry me!"

"What?" cried Tyson.

Max suddenly appeared in the doorway beaming, "Ooh! You're back!" he exclaimed, and pushed in between Kai and Tala and ran forward to hug Tyson, effectively separating Kai from the wolf.

Kai immediately backed away looking wary.

Tala smirked at Kai, "Come on, my beautiful wife to be, lets go get married."

Upon hearing this Max quickly disentangled himself from Tyson and stood in front of Kai, "I'm afraid you can't do that!"

Tala glared threateningly at the blonde, "And why is that?"

"Because Princess Kai is going to marry Prince Tyson!" exclaimed Max, pointing a finger at the said Prince Tyson.

Kai blinked, "I am?"

Tyson blinked, "He is?"

Max nodded, "And you shall live happily ever after! For you are each others one true love! My fairy godmother Draciel told me so!"

Tala glared at him, "Well **_my_ **fair godmother Wolborg told me **_I_** was to marry Princess Kai!"

Tyson deadpanned, "Where the hell are all these fairy godmothers coming from?"

Kai scowled, "I don't know, but I want to find out so I can tell them exactly what I think of these marriage proposals."

Tala suddenly stopped glaring at Max and smirked, "I know how we can sort this out."

"How?" asked Max.

"A quest."

Tyson groaned, "No! Not a quest! I've already had one today!"

Tala ignored him, "Okay Princess, you have to pick something that we have to find. The first one to get it and give it to you, gets to marry you. Does that sound fair?"

Max nodded, "Sounds good to me."

Tyson just shrugged.

Kai stared at them, "Are you people all insane? I'm a boy! You can't marry me! I can't be a bride! I'm a boy!"

Max poked him, "You said you were a boy twice."

"I'm making sure the message is clear," snapped Kai. "And there is no way I'm going to allow you to do this. I have the right to marry whoever I damn well please."

Tala shook his head, "Now that's where you're wrong," he pulled a large book seemingly out of nowhere, and in a bold font on it's cover was, **'The Official Rulebook of Fairytales'**,"Let's see now…………." Tala began to flip through it, "Here we are, page 153, paragraph 8. Princesses have absolutely no say in who they marry, especially if a contest between two eligible suitors is involved. Oh, and there's a footnote………………Yes, that does include you Princess Kai." Tala looked mildly impressed, "Wow, this author is good."

Kai glared at him, "What?" he also proceeded to pull his copy of **'The Official Rulebook of Fairytales' **out of nowhere, and flipped through it. He swore when he saw that Tala was right.

Tala smiled smugly, "Well, now that's settled, I believe you need to think of an item."

Kai glowered, but thought for a moment, "There's a golden egg which is guarded by a wild boy on Mt Bigfoot, you have to get the egg."

Tala nodded, "Alright, I will take my leave and go and get this golden egg for you," he walked over to Kai, grabbed his hand and kissed it, "Farwell my bride to be, and I look forward to our wedding night."

Kai blushed and gritted his teeth, appearing to be restraining himself from doing something violent.

Tyson sighed as Tala left, "Well, I guess I'll be going now." He walked over to Kai and patted him on the shoulder, "Have a nice life with wolf boy, and I hope to see you at the wedding."

"What?" yelped Max.

Tyson shrugged, "You heard me. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going home."

"You're going to let Tala win?" asked Max, sounding more than a little panicked, while Kai just stood there sulkily.

"Yeah. I've already saved him once," said Tyson, fishing out his receipt and waving it in the air, "See."

Kai's eyes narrowed, "You saved me from a **_dead_** spider."

"I still saved you! And you didn't seem to mind at the time!"

"I didn't think I was going to get hunted down and proposed to by a crazy horny wolf!"

"Well neither did I! And I didn't actually agree to the competition! And as long as I have this!" the receipt was brandished around like a trophy, "I am going to go home to sit on my ass and watch my father sit on his ass in a way more comfy chair than mine, and make decrees!"

Kai suddenly smirked, "Oh really. As long as you have that paper, huh?"

Tyson clutched the receipt in his hands, "Oh no, if you think you're going to get it off me you've got another thing coming."

Kai continued to smirk evilly, making Tyson nervous, "Oh Dranzer…………." He called in a smooth, sing song voice. "I have a little problem I need taken care of."

Tyson looked around, "Huh?"

The receipt suddenly started to smoke.

Tyson looked at it in alarm, "Ah! It's hot!" He dropped it, and as it fluttered to the ground, it burst into flames.

Tyson stared at its ashes on the ground in horror, "No!" He glared at Kai, "How did you do that?"

Kai smiled angelically, "My fairy godmother happens to be of the fire element. He's a phoenix. Despite the fact that he's one of the reasons I'm a princess, there are times when I can fully appreciate his presence."

Tyson glowered at him, "I hate you."

Max smiled at the two, "Well, as Kai's friend and protector I shall go with you to make sure you win."

"I'm going too," said Kai.

"Oh no you're not!" replied Tyson.

Kai glowered at him, "Excuse me?"

Tyson glared back at him, "You're the prize! You can't come!"

"Exactly! I'm the one whose life will be screwed up if you don't get it first, so I'm going with you to make sure it all works out!"

"You're also a princess! You said it before, I'm supposed to brandish my sword, strike a heroic pose, and say something corny, save you, while you're in a state of complete and utter delirious awe of at my amazing heroism."

Kai suddenly grabbed Tyson by the neck of his shirt, and glared into his eyes dangerously, "I'm going with you, and if you fail I'll make you **wish** you were the one who has to marry Tala, because you'll be in so much pain! I'm not going to just sit around and wait to hear the outcome!"

Despite his current situation, Tyson grinned, "Why Kai, anyone would think you wanted to marry me!"

Kai scowled and let him go, before proceeding to lock the door of the castle, "Max," he said over his shoulder, "Could you please find your map? And we're going in Tyson's car."

Max grinned as he searched through the mysterious depths of his pockets, "Sure thing! Let's go and get you your happily ever after!"

* * *

TBC…………..

There you have it, chapter two!

Oh, and a quick note to Seppen who asked if a certain lecherous neko-jin would be making an appearance.

My only answer is... (grins evilly) keep an eye out for the next chapter.


	3. Chapter Three The Middle Part Two

**Warnings/Notes: **

Let it be known to all that this story contains **shounen ai,** so if you have any problems with that, please feel free to press the back button!

Oh, and it's an AU.

Thank you for all your rewiews! I'm so glad that you all like this story!

And Ravenstar …………. (Obsidi's eyes suddenly go big and sparkley) Really? That's so…so **KAWAII**! I actually have Dranzer as a girl in one of my other ficcys, but I really did think she was meant to be a boy. (Grins) And now I know she's not! (Well in Japan anyway.) Thanks for the info!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Beyblade, or any of its characters. Nor do I own any of the fairytales which this story may refer to.

* * *

_**Happily Ever After**_

* * *

_Chapter Three;_ **The Middle- Part Two**

* * *

Tyson shifted in his seat, stretching. 

He felt Max lean over the back of the seat, "I'll drive if you're tired!"

Tyson shook his head, "You're too young."

"Then Kai can!" said Max helpfully.

Tyson glanced at Kai who was next to him in the passenger seat, and imagined what kind of driver Kai was……….

'I **bet** he suffers from road rage……………' he shuddered at the thought. "No, it's okay!" he answered brightly.

"But you need a break!" exclaimed Max, looking concerned.

Tyson shook his head, "We stopped a little while ago at that service station, and we still have to finish traveling 'Across the planes', and then we have to travel 'Over peaks' and 'Half way around the world'! We don't have time for a break!"

Kai rolled his eyes, "I still don't get why people have to give the roads around here such weird names."

Tyson shrugged, "Weird people think up weird things I guess."

Max shook his head stubbornly, "It's going to be getting dark soon, and we've already gone so far! Can't we stop! I'm getting fidgety sitting back here!"

Kai's eyes widened, "We need to stop," He stated in a tone of voice that said there were to be no arguments.

Tyson shook his head, "No! We'll fall too far behind Tala!"

Kai leaned over, to whisper in Tyson ear.

"When Max gets bored, bad things happen," he murmured.

"Like what?" asked Tyson quietly.

"He tends to go **_hyper_**," replied Kai.

Tyson imagined what the already exuberant boy was like when he got hyper. The thought was more frightening than Kai having a bout of road rage.

He swallowed thickly, "Okay," he said loudly so Max could hear, "We'll pull over somewhere."

Max smirked at Kai, "So, how did you manage to convince him? Did you say you'd do _something_ for him later?"

Kai scowled at him, "Watch it kid."

Max smirked, "Oh, I'm watching."

Tyson scanned the road in front of them, "Where can we stop? I can't see any hotels or motels or anything."

Max squinted, "I guess we can just pull over somewhere and make camp for the night! There's nothing around here except forests and trees."

Tyson looked horrified, "What? Camp outside in the middle of nowhere? No running water? No beds? No," he want slightly pale and shivered, "Food?"

Max sweatdropped, "What kind of hero are you?"

"One that enjoys the comforts of modern living," replied Tyson blandly, "And one who doesn't operate well on an empty stomach."

"There's a plastic bag with some food in the back," said Kai, "I bought it the last time we stopped."

"I suppose that makes things a little bit better," admitted Tyson slowly, "But I'm still not enamored with the proposed sleeping arrangements."

"Well I wasn't particularly enamored with having a contest to see who can marry me," snapped Kai, annoyed with all the complaining, "But in the end I didn't have a choice, just like you don't have a choice about where we sleep. If we could, we'd stay in a hotel. But we can't. So pull over somewhere. **Now**."

Tyson shot Kai a sour look, but complied.

* * *

They eventually pulled over, ate, and when it had began to get dark, Kai set up a campfire. 

Tyson was sulking, and had successfully endeavored to give Kai the silent treatment.

Kai didn't appear to particularly care about being given the cold shoulder, though it seemed Max did, as he had given them both what could only be described as a tragic expression, usually worn by a kicked puppy, before making his way off to bed.

With the departure of the one person in the group who had been trying to lighten the mood, tension pulsed through the air.

Tyson stared gloomily into the firelight, mentally slapping himself when his subconscious reminded him that the glowing red was the same pretty color as Kai's eyes.

He stared down at his feet, only to let his gaze catch on the end of the sword that he'd been given. He looked at it thoughtfully, the question that had been nagging at him for a while now, once again rising in his mind. The need to ask, finally managed to conquer his will to sulk and before he could stop himself, the question pushed itself past his lips, "Why did you let me keep it?"

Kai, who up until that point had been casually staring up at the stars, blinked, "What?"

"Why did you let me keep it?"

Kai stared at him with an adorable expression of complete and utter incomprehension, "Keep what?"

"Your sword!" exclaimed Tyson like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh," replied Kai, having now shifted his gaze, studying the flickering flames of the fire intently.

There was a pause.

"You said it was a family heirloom," prompted Tyson, realizing that Kai probably wasn't going to answer him without encouragement.

"I said I though it _might _be," came the blunt reply.

"And you let me keep it because………?" Tyson let the sentence hang, and blinked when he saw what was definitely a blush grace his companion's cheeks.

"Because," came the gruff reply.

Tyson rose an eyebrow, "You let me keep it because because," he said dubiously.

Kai coughed uncomfortably, "Yeah well……….." he trailed off, and then suddenly snapped, "I though since you handled it so well I'd let you keep it, it just seemed right, okay?"

There was an uncomfortable silence in which they stared at one another.

Finally Tyson gave Kai a small smile, "Thanks."

Kai looked away, slightly embarrassed, "Yeah, whatever. You can just forget about it, alright?"

There was another small pause, but this time, the silence was almost companiable. Then Tyson stood, "I'm going to bed, g'night."

"Good night," Kai replied quietly.

Tyson started to walk away, and without turning back said, "And don't worry, I'll beat wolf boy."

Kai couldn't help but start and flush at the surprisingly overprotective manner in which the statement was said.

Tyson oblivious to Kai's expression, headed over to his makeshift bed, leaving Kai alone by the fire with pink tinged cheeks.

* * *

Max detected a distinct change in the atmosphere, as he munched on his semi-stale, almost rock hard, chocolate chip muffin. He hid his slightly lecherous grin behind it as his hormonally driven mind came up with some _very_ interesting scenarios for the shift in moods. 

He highly doubted that any of them were true of course, since he knew how Kai disliked people touching him, and it would probably take a bit longer than a night to convince him otherwise, but histheories still amused him none the less.

He stared at the way in which Kai was dutifully avoiding all forms of contact with his long haired companion, almost appearing to be embarrassed by him. Tyson didn't have any apparent change in attitude, however Max could see that something was…..off.

There was also the fact that Tyson had been up and about at dawn, waking himself and Kai up, and getting ready to leave.

Max was a fairly good judge of character, and he was **sure** that Tyson wasn't usually an early riser.

He was about to ponder more on this sudden swing in his friends behavioral patterns, when he heard something off to his side.

It sounded like something was moving in the bushes.

He glanced in the noises direction, not turning his head so that whoever, or whatever it was didn't know their presence had been detected.

He flicked his eyes back to the others, and his eyes met Tyson's.

Tyson nodded at Kai, who was currently over by the car, gesturing for Max to go and stay near him.

Max shook his head, and suddenly smiled somewhat evilly.

Tyson looked at him questioningly, but he received an answer when Max, almost leisurely, threw his half eaten muffin over his shoulder, and straight into the shifting foliage.

There was a thump, a yelp, and a spectacularly nasty curse word, all in that sequence.

By this stage, Kai had noticed the almost transfixed way Tyson and Max had been observing a bush without directly looking at it, and had wandered over to investigate just in time to hear the aforementioned profanity.

A few seconds after the nasty word, a exceptionally unhappy neko-jin tumbled out of the undergrowth.

"What were you doing spying on us!" demanded Tyson, glaring at the raven haired boy, who was currently sitting muttering darkly about evil muffins and rubbing his head.

The neko jin glared at them, ignoring the question and jumped up pointing at Kai, "You!"

Kai sweatdropped as he recognized him, "Oh no……."

Recognition also flittered across Max's face, and he also sweatdropped, "Oh dear…..."

"You're the one who did this to me!" growled the boy.

Kai smirked, "Well…….. Technically he did that to you, " he pointed at Max (who cringed) "And to be frank you're _lucky_ that **I** didn't do anything to you, because I can assure you it would have been a lot more **painful**."

The neko jin glared at him, "Well now I'm going to do something painful to you!"

Max suddenly stood in front of Kai, "As the princess's trainee apprentice mage, sans master, I will protect him from the likes of you!"

The neko snorted, "Yeah, sure you will blondie." And in a blink of an eye he jumped over them, knocking Max to the ground, and grabbed Kai from behind.

"Great," growled Kai, "Not only did you not turn him into a rabbit, but you gave him special abilities as well!"

Max blushed, "Sorry!" he called brightly, as he stood brushing dirt form his clothes.

Tyson sighed and slowly drew his sword, "Sorry dude," he said to the neko jin, "Nothing personal, but I can't let you hurt the princess. You know how it is. It's part of the job description of the hero/prince."

Tyson moved to attack him, but the neko jumped again, still holding Kai, and kicked the sword out of Tyson's hands.

He smirked at Kai, "Fine lot of protectors you have, but no matter. Now I can get my revenge."

Kai scowled at Tyson and Max, "Is _everyone_ around here but **me **completely incompetent!" he growled, and firmly planted his elbow into the neko jin's stomach.

The neko gritted his teeth, removed one of his arms from Kai's waist and then valiantly held on to the vicious princess's arm to prevent further attack. "I won't let you go!"

Kai smirked, "Do you want to the best thing about elbows?" He slammed into his captors stomach again, "There's two of them."

The neko gasped, winded and sank to his knees letting go of Kai in the process. "T-this can't be! You're a princess! You're supposed to be defenseless!" he choked out, "You're meant to scream for help in a high pitched squeaky voice."

"What can I say," said Kai, smirking down at him, "I'm a revolutionary princess."

"Who's also a guy," muttered Tyson moodily, annoyed at being beaten so easily.

The neko jin stared up at Kai starry eyed, and pink bubbles appeared in the background, "I think I'm in love…………"

Kai blushed, "Oh don't start this garbage again Rei!" he snapped, "This is why I had Max try to turn you into a rabbit."

The neko jin now known to all as Rei ignored him and proceeded to glomp him, "But Kai-kun!"

"Hang on a sec," said Tyson looking confused, "You know each other?"

Kai nodded and his blush darkened, "Rei! Get your hand off of my arse! In fact, get off me period!"

"How do you know each other?" demanded Tyson, outraged (for reasons he wasn't sure of, but one might say it was the way Rei was grabbing Kai's derriere).

Kai scowled, "We used to be childhood friends."

"And then we fell in love!" exclaimed Rei.

"And the **he** fell in love and tried to get me to marry him."

Tyson glowered (for reasons he wasn't sure of, but one might say it was the way Rei was nuzzling Kai's neck and purring), "Well you can't. Because I'm going to win his hand!"

Max blinked, "You are?" he then grinned, "Yay! I'm so happy, before you kept saying you didn't want to I was so worried but now-"

Tyson cut him off, "I **_am_**! I'm going find the golden egg first and beat Tala!" he exclaimed (for reasons he wasn't sure of, but one might say it was jealousy).

Rei let go of Kai and glared at Tyson, "Is that so?"

"Yeah, that's so."

The scene behind them turned into a traditional standoff set (complete with lightening), while in the background Max and Kai had dots for eyes and sweatdropped.

"A day ago one wanted revenge and the other wanted to be rid of me," muttered Kai darkly as he watched the two growl at each other.

"They say love's a fickle thing," said Max shrugging.

Kai rolled his eyes, "They don't love me. And they're both slowing us down," and with that said, Kai turned and began to walk back to the car.

Max grinned at the two oblivious boys before following him, "Aww, how cute! Kai's embarrassed."

* * *

It took several minutes of glaring, growling and clashing noises in the background before Tyson and Rei realized that the object of their affections had left with the over excitable mage and had already finished tidying up **and** started the car in his impatience. 

And when they did there was a lot of pushing and squabbling to be the first one to catch up to them.

* * *

TBC………….. 

And there you have it! Rei's entered this fiasco! I hope it was worth the wait!


	4. Chapter Four The Middle Part Three

**Warnings/Notes: **Hey There! Here's another particularly absurd story by me! Let it be known to all that this story contains **shounen ai,** so if you have any problems with that, please feel free to press the back button!

Oh, and it's an AU.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Beyblade, or any of its characters. Nor do I own any of the fairytales which this story may refer to.

* * *

_**Happily Ever After**_

* * *

_Chapter Four;_ **The Middle- Part Three**

* * *

Tyson sighed as he drove along, wondering for what must have been the thousandth time in the last hour how he had managed to become connected with this bunch of weirdo's. 

In the back seat Rei glared at Max, while Max grinned back at him.

"You shouldn't be so upset," said Max, his grin never faltering despite the hostile look he was receiving, "It could have been worse!"

Rei scowled, "You turned me into a neko-jin, and how could it get any worse?"

In the front seat Kai snorted, "Trust me. It could get a whole lot worse."

Max nodded happily, "There was this one guy, named Eddie, and I accidentally turned him into a half rabbit, half elephant-"

"Please don't ask what it looked like," said Kai, "It was rather disturbing."

"And then there was Enrique!"

"Who now has three heads."

"And I somehow managed to turn this girl Matilda into a third hedgehog, a third human and a half lamp post…………"

Rei blinked, "Err….. two thirds and a half are more than a-"

"We know," said Kai dryly cutting him off.

"And then there was Dunga, who I'm sure was already partly an ape, but he-"

"I'm sure he gets the idea," Kai interjected.

Max shrugged, "So you see, I'd have to say that out of everyone, you came out the most normal," he paused and his eyes traveled over the raven haired boy, "And besides, I think you're cuter this way."

Rei flushed at the compliment and looked at Max sideways, "Err……….thanks."

Tyson glared at him through the rear view vision mirror, "I still don't see why you had to come along."

Rei smiled flashing his fangs, "Kai needs at least one competent person around to protect him."

Tyson glowered and was about to retort when Kai interrupted scowling, "I am perfectly capable of looking after myself as you have recently experienced first hand."

Rei rubbed his bruised sides gingerly as he remembered the pain from when Kai elbowed him, "Yeah well……."

Max suddenly sat up in his seat, pointing excitedly, "Ooh! Look at that castle! Isn't it pretty?"

The three other occupants of the car stared.

"It's very……….." started Tyson, before he has overcome by the image before him and trailed off.

"…………….Pink," finished Kai darkly.

Through pink was the simplest way to describe it, it really didn't give the castle and its surroundings much justice.

It was, in fact, composed of a myriad of every different shade of pink ever known by any being to ever exist.

The light pink stone of the castle rose up into the sky, with pink lights shining out of pink stain glass windows. A multitude of pink towers loomed over them menacingly, while pink walls stood defensively around the structure and its pink flowery gardens.

Max had been right. It **_was_** pretty, it was just nauseatingly so.

Kai shuddered.

This was not only because of the onslaught of the one particular color, but because he knew lay inside.

He turned to Tyson, "Floor it."

Tyson blinked, still slightly mesmerized by the pink hued building, "Huh?"

"Drive faster!" said Kai desperately, "We need to get out of here!"

They passed a sign. It depicted the words, 'Welcome to Princess Mariah's Pretty Abode!' in bright pink curly writing.

"What's wrong?" asked Tyson.

Kai fought off a shiver and failed, "That's princess Mariah's castle. She's a nice person, but……………ever since we were little she's been trying to get me to be a _'proper princess'_."

In the back of the car Max giggled, Kai had told him all about the awful visits he had been forced to attend with his parents when he was younger, "That includes wearing the proper attire."

Tyson looked confused.

Rei smirked as he caught on, "You know, princess clothes. Dresses."

Kai looked distinctly paler than usual.

Tyson sent him an evil look, "Well it would be rude to drive past an old friends place and not pop in for a visit."

Kai growled looking murderous.

Tyson swallowed and laughed nervously, "Or we could just keep on going," he added brightly.

After a few minutes they were stopped at a toll station.

A kid with green hair and purple eyes stuck out his hand, "Toll please," he said in a bored voice.

He wore an interesting badge that said; 'Hi! My name is Kevin!' The green haired boy looked less than pleased in his ID photo, despite the fact that the badge emitted a light and happy aura.

The badge itself was bright pink.……….and so was Kevin's uniform.

"How much is it?" asked Tyson pulling out his wallet trying to hide his sniggering.

Kevin idly glanced at Tyson, his bored expression changing as his eyes fell on the tense Kai. His eyes widened slightly in recognition and instead of answering Tyson he overdramatically looked at his watch and exclaimed, "Oh my! It's my break! Just wait here for a moment………" he trailed off and disappeared.

"Hey!" shouted Tyson angrily, "Come back!"

The window was suddenly filled by a much larger young man, in the same disturbing uniform, with a badge that said 'Gary'.

All angry complaints died in Tyson's throat as he took in how much larger Gary was than himself. "Hi!" he squeaked, "How much do I owe you?"

Since everyone's attention was fixed on Gary, nobody really noticed Kevin slink out of a door behind them and unscrew the valves on the two back tyres.

Nor did they see him head off to the pink castle at a run.

* * *

Princess Mariah sighed as she sat on her ornately decorated throne which was, of course, pink. 

There hadn't been much excitement around lately, what with her favorite knight in shining armor, Lee, having gone off to sort out a rather grumpy Dragon in some unknown village somewhere in the wilderness.

A princess's life could be so boring sometimes.

If only she had something to **_do_**.

It was at that precise moment that Kevin decided to come skidding into the room, only stopping when he flew into a rather large (and rather expensive, thought Mariah darkly), vase.

She sighed again.

"Is something the matter Kevin?" she asked, and after a pause she added, "Are you okay?"

Blushing, Kevin stood up from the porcelain debris around him, miraculously unhurt, "Yeah………..sorry about that…………"

Mariah waved it off, and gave him a half hearted smile (she **_had_** been rather attached to that particular vase), "Don't worry about it." She then waited for Kevin to explain the reason for his hurtling into the room.

Kevin stood there nervously.

Mariah cleared her throat.

Kevin looked at her blankly.

Mariah coughed, "So………Is something wrong?"

Kevin jumped, "Yes!" he exclaimed, "I just saw someone!"

Mariah nodded sagely, "Yes, well, people do generally see other people. That's the way the world works."

Kevin blinked, "Yeah, but it's someone we know!"

Mariah waited to be told who it was.

When it appeared that Kevin was waiting for her to ask who, she said, "And who was this person?"

Kevin grinned, "Princess Kai Hiwatari."

A disturbingly large smile crept across Mariah's face, "Kai-chan?" she exclaimed happily.

Kevin nodded, "He was just passing through with some other guys, but I made sure that he wouldn't be able to leave the area."

Mariah suddenly frowned, "You didn't do something unpleasant did you?"

Kevin shook his head, "No, I just let the air out of their cars tyres."

Mariah beamed, "Okay! They'll probably stop at that motel down the road, and try to find out where the nearest service station is! Quick! Go fetch Gary."

"What about me?"

"You just go and mind the toll booth," said Mariah dismissively, ignoring Kevin's pout. "Oh! I'm so happy! Kai's coming for a visit, he's always so interesting and cute when he gets mad!"

* * *

Kai scowled at Tyson, "What do you mean there's no air in them?" 

Tyson glared back at him, "I mean that there is no oxygen in the tyres," he said snappily, "What the hell else could I mean!"

"I mean," said Kai, the ferocity of his scowl increasing, "How did it happen?"

Max peered at a tyre, "Well, from here it looks as though someone unscrewed the valves."

"I bet it was that green haired runt at the toll booth," seethed Tyson.

"Well _why_ isn't there a spare tyre?" asked Kai grumpily.

"There is **_A_** spare tyre," growled Tyson, "The problem is that there are **_TWO_** flat ones."

"We could get Max to use his magic, I guess," said Rei, not really thinking about what he was suggesting.

Max looked up, face full of eagerness and excitement. The faintest trace of magic began to sparkle and crackle merrily in his hand.

"I seriously doubt that would be a good idea," replied Kai taking a wary step away from the blonde, "Somehow I don't think Tyson would appreciate the mutation of his car."

Tyson nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

Rei smiled, because in his weariness of Max, Kai had moved closer to him, and took the opportunity to wrap his arms around the princess's waist, "I'm pretty sure there's a motel around here," he said, ignoring Kai's squirming, and Tyson's glowering.

Max nodded, rushing towards the front of the car for the map, accidentally stepping on Rei's foot in the process, making the neko jin yelp, and allowing for Kai's escape.

Unaware of Rei's jumping around and cries of pain in the background, Max rummaged through the glove compartment, "Aha!" he said triumphantly, holding it in the air. He then opened it, and scanned it with his eyes, "Let me see now," he muttered absently, "Rei's right, there's a little motel just down the road. We can get help there!"

"But what about the car?" asked Kai.

"We'll just have to leave it here," said Max.

"What! No way!" yelled Tyson angrily.

"Why don't two of us stay here, and two of us go for help," said Kai logically.

The others nodded.

"I'm staying with Kai," said Tyson and Rei simultaneously.

Max and Kai sweatdropped, as Rei and Tyson began to glare at each other.

"Kai and I will go get help, while you two stay here," said Max calmly, and then proceeded to lead Kai down the road without waiting for an answer.

Tyson and Rei sulked as they watched them go.

* * *

Max and Kai walked in silence until they reached the small motel. 

It hadn't really been very far away, only a fifteen minute walk, and Kai waited outside, while Max went inside and talked to the owner.

A few minutes later Max returned smiling, "The manager's name is Kenny, he's really nice! Apparently his parents own this place, and he said that it also doubles as a service station. They even have a tow truck we can use!"

Kai noticed the small boy, whose brown hair and glasses covered his eyes, who was now standing in the doorway of the motels office.

"I told him what was wrong, and he said we can get the car right away, but we're going to have to wait a day for the car to be fixed up because it's the mechanic's day off, and he doesn't know what to do or where the equipment is. So we're going to go back to get the others and the car, and you can wait here. Is that okay?"

Kai nodded, and took the room key which Max had then offered him, "Just go get them before they kill each other."

Max nodded, "Done! Just be careful, 'cause no one will be here to look out for you."

Kai huffed indignantly, "I can look after myself!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," said Max soothingly, "It would probably just be best if you wait in you room though."

Kai sighed, there was no point in arguing.

"And don't open the door for any strangers!" said Max jokingly as he turned to leave with Kenny.

Kai rolled his eyes before checking his room number and heading off to the room. He knew Max was watching him from around the corner of the office to make sure he had done do.

The room was surprisingly nice, and Kai absently noticed that it had two single beds and a double. He mentally groaned as he sat down on the double, imagining the fight that would most likely break out over sleeping arrangements.

He really didn't understand why Rei and Tyson were constantly fighting over him. He wasn't too pleased with the way in which everyone thought that if they won an argument or a competition they would automatically get him. Why didn't he get a say in the matter, he certainly knew who he'd choose if he had a choice, his thoughts headed towards his blue haired companion, but rapidly shut them down.

**No. **He told himself. Don't think such things.

His mind began to grin rebelliously, fully intent on doing exactly the opposite, but was stopped by a sudden, sharp knock on his door.

Kai stared at it.

It couldn't be the others already, he'd only been here for a few minutes.

There was another, irritated knock.

Kai continued to stare at the door warily.

There was then a thump, and a metallic sound, suspiciously like the noise of someone picking a lock.

Kai was on his feet in seconds and found the closest, heaviest, object he could find.

It was a small clock.

Kai cursed.

This was not looking good.

There was a click, and the door swung open.

Kai paled as a person entered and shut the door behind themselves.

The person at the door smirked wolfishly.

Kai pulled himself together and glared, "Go away Tala."

Tala continued to smirk and strolled in the room, "No."

Kai threw the clock at him, and felt excruciatingly pathetic when Tala easily caught it in one hand, before tossing it aside. "What do you want," he snapped.

"Well, apart from the obvious, which is you, I came to see how you were faring with Mr. Prince Kinomiya."

"Absolutely spiffing," retorted Kai acidly.

"And the neko jin?"

Kai gave him a long, hard look, "You've been spying on us."

Tala waved his hand airily, "Of course I have. I can't let you come to any trouble, can I?"

Kai growled. There was a nasty, angry feeling bubbling up, which had been steadily accumulating over the last few days, "**I can look after myself!**" he cried out petulantly, "**I** **don't need you all you people watching over me!**"

Tala looked surprised by the sudden outburst, but quickly composed himself, "Of course you can," he said candidly, "That's why I like you. You're stubborn, harsh, strong and determined. It draws me to you," he moved forward wrapping his arms around the momentarily stunned Kai and pulled him too him, "And I absolutely can't wait until I turn you into a whimpering pool of need," he whispered into Kai's ear, before pulling him into a quick, but steamy kiss.

When it was over, Kai shoved him away roughly, and swung a fist at him.

Tala, anticipating the move, had already stepped backwards, out of Kai's reach.

He smiled, and licked his lips, "As enjoyable as that was, and as much as I'd love to hang around, there's a cloaked and hooded mysterious figure at your door, so I think I'll just be heading off now, because as you always say, you can look after yourself," and with that, Tala headed over to the window, opened it, and jumped out.

Kai stared at it blankly in a daze, "What just happened?" he murmured.

There was a knock at the door, and Kai, still in shock, headed over and opened it.

He blinked as he suddenly came back to reality. Just as Tala had said, there was a cloaked and hooded mysterious figure there, "Can I help you?" he asked.

The figure nodded, "I am but a poor local farmer's wife, who sells apples to cloth her family. Would you please buy one?" A beautiful red apple was offered to him, "It's as sweet as your soul and as the same pretty color of your eyes."

Kai rose an eyebrow.

"I shall even let you try it before you pay me!"

Kai stared at the proffered fruit with obvious distaste, "Who do you think I am? Snow White? I'm not that stupid you know, one of the first things princesses get taught these days is not to consume anything handed to them by suspicious looking strangers, along with the need to avoid sewing equipment of any kind, most especially spindles and needles, cursed objects and not to offer to do _anything_ for a man who saves you."

Mariah smiled brightly and pulled off her hood, "Of course I knew that you never fall for the old apple trick!"

Kai stared at her, "Oh no……….. Mariah………….."

Mariah happily waggled a finger at him, "That's why I brought Gary and a bottle of chloroform!"

"Wha-" started Kai, but he was cut off as one large muscled hand appeared from the side of the door, and grabbed him around the waist, while another covered his mouth with a cloth with an odd smell.

Darkness swept through his mind and Kai managed to murmur one thing before he was completely lost to unconsciousness.

"Please………..at _least_ don't let the dress be **pink**."

* * *

TBC……………………. 


	5. Chapter Five The Middle Part Four

**Warnings/Notes: **Hey There! Here's another absurd irrational story by me! Let it be known to all that this story contains **shounen ai,** so if you have any problems with that, please feel free to press the back button!

Oh, and it's an AU.

(Sighs) I'm really, really sorry about the wait, but it just couldn't be helped. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Beyblade, or any of its characters. Nor do I own any of the fairytales which this story may refer to.

* * *

_**Happily Ever After**_

* * *

_Chapter Five;_ **The Middle- Part Four**

* * *

Tyson hurriedly made his way over to their motel room. 

From the time just before Max had arrived with Kenny and the tow truck, he had had an extremely bad feeling gnawing at him, and he was sure that it had something to do with Kai.

As he approached the room his apprehension increased dramatically, especially when he saw that the door was open.

Cautiously, he stuck his head in. In this kind of situation you never knew what bloodthirsty entity might jump out and try to rip your head off.

Nope. Kai definitely wasn't there, bloodthirsty or otherwise.

Just a small clock lying in the middle of the floor.

Tyson stared at it.

From what he knew of Kai, Tyson could easily deduce that he was definitely **_not_** the sort of person to leave things lying around on the floor.

Worry cackled evilly and continued to chew gleefully on his insides.

Max appeared in the doorway behind him.

"He's gone," stated Tyson.

Max bit his lip, "He probably wandered off somewhere, I'm sure he's alri-"

Tyson bent down next to the clock, "He's been kidnapped."

"I think you maybe overreacting…………."

The blonde trailed off as Tyson stood up and turned to face him, face tense with concentration and barely suppressed anger, "It was that princess Mariah he was worried about before. That Kevin kid from the toll booth let down our tires to stop us from getting away, and while we were all gone, they got that big beefy guy Gary to grab him."

Max frowned, "You're making a lot of assumptions, you know……….How can you know for sure," he paused and then looked excited, "Is it some kind of intuitive power you have when it comes to Kai! It is, isn't it! Ooh! That would be so cool!"

Tyson's intense expression didn't falter for a second, "No, that's what the note on I found under the clock says."

Max fell over.

Tyson walked past him, a determined expression now on his face, "And now I'm going to go to that castle and rescue him! I'll fight anyone who stands in my way! I'll climb up the tallest tower if I have to! Nothing and nobody Mariah throws at me will prevent me from fulfilling my duty!" He drew his sword and held it over his head as he struck a heroic pose.

Behind him, Max sat up sparkly eyed, "That's the way Tyson! You're a true hero!" He paused and put a finger to his cheek looking thoughtful, "But how are you going to get there without a car?"

Tyson sweatdropped, and while his arm did not lower, his sword definately drooped, "Err………"

* * *

Kai's mind fought its way out of unconsciousness, and he lay where he was with his eyes closed. 

Strange, he didn't remember going to sleep…………

Memories swirled through his mind.

Tala. The kiss. The stranger. The apple. Mariah. Gary. Chloroform. Darkness.

Oh god help him, Mariah.

Fear clawed his insides as his imagination supplied him with all the awful scenarios he may find himself in when he opened his eyes.

He swallowed.

'It'll be okay,' he thought to himself, 'Nothing, **_nothing_** could possibly be worse than that time with the dolls and the makeup……..'

Slowly, he sat up, and peaked out at his surroundings from underneath his eyelashes.

The walls of the room were covered in mirrors, meaning that he could see his reflection clearly from where he was sitting on the bed.

'……..okay, so maybe I was wrong. Just. Stay. Calm. ….. Stay calm…… We are cool, we are detached, we are Princess Kai Hiwatari, aka the Ice Bitch, and we **will** _not_ **_panic_**...'

For a few seconds Kaimanaged to sitperfectly still...

...and then hepanicked.

* * *

Tyson moaned. 

_Bounce._

He gritted his teeth.

_Bounce._

He tried very hard not to think about it.

_Bounce._

He clutched the reigns with white knuckles in a death grip.

_Bounce._

He looked to his side, and scowled. Max seemed to be having the time of his life.

_Bounce._

He turned to the other side, and glowered.

So was Rei.

_Bounce._

Kenny caught his eye and cringed at his expression.

_Bounce._

"I'm sorry," said Kenny, "It's the only method of transportation I had available. You were lucky that we even had enough. And it's not much further, you'll see!"

_Bounce._

Tyson rubbed at his arse.

_Bounce._

Horses.

Bloody horses.

Oh if Hilary could see him now.

She'd be absolutely thrilled.

"We need to go faster!" said Rei, spurring his horse on.

Tyson gave him a dark look, but sped up.

_Bounce._

_Bounce._

_Bounce._

_Bounce._

_Bounce._

_Bounce._

_Bounce._

Thank god the castle wasn't all that far away.

He wasn't going to be able to sit down properly for awhile.

Kai owed him big time for this.

* * *

'Deep breaths, just take nice deep breaths...' 

It was, Kai mused, probably one of the most horrifically embarrassing things he'd ever endured in his life.

It was at that stage that he remembered that being a male princess was a horrifically embarrassing thing that he endured every day of his life, and in the scheme of things this really shouldn't bother him.

It did.

"You're awake!" Mariah beamed at him form the chair she had been sitting in, on the other side of the room, completely ignoring the fact that Kai had just finished a nice long bout of hyperventilation.

Kai grunted, and delicately touched the tiara and one of the flowers that had been woven into his hair, while staring into the mirror on the wall across form him.

"Don't do that! You'll mess up your hair!"

'It's just a horrible nightmare,' Kai thought desperately, 'And you really can't kill her for this because despite how dreadful it is, she _really_ is sincerely trying to be _nice_.'

"I heard what you said about the pink," continued Mariah, unperturbed by Kai's silence, "And I have to agree, it really isn't your color, but I must say, the deep crimson really does agree with your skin tone."

Kai took a deep calming breath, "Mariah?"

"Yes?"

"I can understand the dress, I understand the makeup, I get the crown, the flowers, the nail polish, the jewelry, the stockings, thehigh heelsand_ even_ the **_garter_**, but why, **_why_** all the lace and ruffles?"

Mariah sighed, "I guess it is a little over the top, isn't it."

Kai choked back the sardonic, '_A little_?' that rushed to his lips, "Yes." He said. "Yes it is. Especially since I **am** a _boy_."

Mariah made a face, "I know………… it's just ……..you look so cute!"

Kai gave her a _very_ weak smile, "Thank you, but if it's all the same, I was wearing pants this morning, and I'd very much like to see through the evening wearing them too."

Mariah sighed sadly, but nodded, "Fine……I'll let you dress normally as long as you promise to have tea and a chat with me first, and maybe a few other princessy things as well," She looked at him with big sad golden eyes, and her bottom lip trembled "It's been so long since I've spent some time with a fellow princess."

Kai considered his options as he ignored the pouty look Mariah was giving him. There was no window for him to jump out of, and it _would_ mean he could end this little cross-dressing adventure. "Deal." He said finally, completely sure that he would regret it later.

"But you **have** to keep the tiara and the flowers," added Mariah, "After all, you _are_ a princess."

Kai considered the small crown and a collection of the local vegetation the least of his current tribulations, and nodded sighing. "Just get me my pants."

It was as he watched Mariah head to the door and beckon for him to follow that a sudden and extremely unpleasant thought hit him.

"Who was the one that changed my clothes?"

Mariah turned back to smirk at him, "Oh, that would have been me."

* * *

Tyson swung off the horse and tied it to a tree. Words couldn't describe the joyous feeling he was currently experiencing due to his reunion with the ground. 

He scowled as he noticed Rei smirking at him, "What?" he snapped, really not in the mood to even try to be nice.

Rei's infuriatingly smug smile didn't even falter for a second, "Is your highnesses posterior experiencing some problems?"

Tyson muttered something uncomplimentary and began to stomp towards the rear of the castle.

"Where are you going?" Max called after him.

Tyson ignored him and kept on going.

Max sighed and looked at Rei questioningly.

Rei shrugged, "Probably gone off to sulk."

Max nodded sagely, "Probably. But I really don't think we have time to wait for him."

"No, we can't," replied Rei primly tying his own horse to a tree, "That's why we're not going to." He looked at Kenny who up until then felt as though he had been forgotten, "Are you going to come with us?"

Kenny bit his lip, "Err………" Kenny didn't consider himself to be a coward, he merely tried his best to avoid trouble, though the neko-jin and the blonde haired boys standing with him didn't appear to be half as much of a magnet to disaster that that long navy haired guy had seemed to be, he could still see a lot of potential danger in going with them.

It was at that point that he chose to look back into the woods they had come from. Bushed rustled ominously, and in the distance **_something_** howled.

Kenny shivered, swallowed, and quickly came to a decision, "I'll go with you."

As he followed his newly found companions he wondered if he had made the right decision.

But _really_, how much trouble could these guys get into?

Kenny blinked and looked around frowning.

Odd.

He'd thought he'd heard someone laughing.

* * *

Contrary to popular belied, Tyson had not stormed off to sulk. 

He Had A Plan! (the capital letters and exclamation marks are in fact necessary, because not only did Tyson have a plan, but he was a prince/hero with a plan, and that **meant** something.)

He carefully poked around the back of the castle with a stick.

"That Rei thinks he knows everything," he muttered darkly, "Well I can say this, he's definitely not royalty! If he was he'd know that every palace **always** has a secret back entrance. It's the _rules_."

He continued to poke around, but stopped when he noticed a stone in the castles wall wasn't quite as fluorescent as its companions.

Grinning, he pressed it.

On reflection, mused Tyson, as he began to fall down the pitch black hole that had suddenly opened up below him, he probably should have considered the fact that not only did castles always have secret entrances, but they also usually had secret traps for the people who thought they were being clever by trying to use them.

* * *

Would you please pass the sugar?" 

Kai obediently did so, and then went back to sipping his tea, absent mindedly tugging at his skirt so that it was covering as much as possible.

As far as he was concerned things could be a lot worse.

Yes, he **_was _**sitting on _something_ abhorrently pink and frilly (it was labeled as 'something' because Kai firmly believed that it could never be referred to as a chair – nothing that puffy could **ever** be called a chair),and yes he was having some minor breathing problems due to the corset, but at least he was indoors, away from a group of crazy people, most of whom intent on marrying him, he was fed, and, well, **_clean_**.

The last few days hadn't exactly been filled with opportunities to bathe or change his clothes, and he had been more than keen to accept Mariah's offer (though it would be better described as an order) to do so.

Oh the joys of not smelling like something that had been dragged out of the bushes.

Mariah had even given clean clothes that weren't pink!

Granted they _were_ purple, but, thought Kai smugly, he did pull the color off exceptionally well.

Though he did hope that the others would get off their arses and rescue him soon--

"Another jam bun Kai?"

"No thanky-" Another bun was put on his plate.

--he could only fit so much into his stomach.

* * *

Kenny sniffled as he shielded himself from the hail of **_fish_**. 

They had just reached the castle courtyard when the defensive spell had kicked in, blocking them from progressing further.

Rei was enjoying the situation as much as a neko jin would, and Max was altogether _too_ happy with the current development.

"An exemplary example of the 'Fishishus' spell!" Max exclaimed, blue eyes sparkling as he absentmindedly sidestepped, dodging a rather large cod, "I'm so glad to have been able to see it!"

Having been earlier informed that Max was an apprentice wizard, Kenny cried, "Can't you do anything to counter it!"

Kenny had **not** been given details on just how far it was exactly that Max's talents _really_ went.

"Hmmm," Max studied the fish in a businesslike manner, while Kenny shielded them both with his jacket.

Rei was still blissfully preoccupied, jumping around trying to grab the largest fish he could see (each time he saw a larger one he would drop the one he was currently holding), thus meaning that there was no one to intervene in Max's spell casting.

"Right! Got it! …….. Hickelty pickelty gish! I wish there weren't any fish!" Max gave a sweeping motion with his hands.

The hail of fish ceased.

There were a few seconds of normality (and a severely disappointed neko-jin) and then………..

……….all the fish on the ground began to turn into rabbits, accompanied by a light magical popping sound.

Max sweatdropped as the courtyard rapidly began to fill with confused fluffy mammals.

"At least it's not raining fish!" he sad brightly, laughing with a hand behind his head.

Kenny fell over, and in the background Rei sulked.

Max continued to giggle as he stepped over bunnies of various colors, sizes and shapes (quite a few had a distinct fish like quality to them), and headed towards a large and ornately decorated door that could only lead to the throne room.

He suddenly stopped, still smiling, "Excuse me sir, but could you please remove your sword from my throat?"

The newcomer, and owner of the sword seemed to considered this, "Err…….no."

* * *

"And so then I said……..Kai? Are you alright?" 

Kai carefully placed his teacup back on the table.

He felt, _strange_, almost……… light headed.

"Mariah," he said slowly and carefully, "Did you put something in my drink?"

Mariah smiled charmingly at him, "Why of course my dear! Just a little something I had our resident wizard cook up for you! You know, to help you be more proper!"

Kai's eyes blazed with anger and jumped up out of his seat, not caring in the least about his skirt flying up, "**Why you manipulative _bit_**-Oh boy! My dear Mariah, these buns are just lovely!" Kai sat down again straightening his skirt, "And I could really do with another cup of tea! And who cut your hair for you? Mines just so messy! I can never get it to sit properly! And yours is such a gorgeous color!"

Mariah simply smiled and poured Kai another cup of tea.

* * *

TBC……………… 


End file.
